Written questions by Smart.

Whether her Department plans to introduce safeguards to help tackle (a) errors and (b) delayed updates by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency in (i) cases where initial penalty charge notices are issued and (ii) other cases.

It is a legal requirement for the keeper of a vehicle to notify the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) of any changes to details on the vehicle record including a change of address or when someone has bought or sold a vehicle. This can be done by sending a notification by post or the online channel at GOV.UK. The DVLA aims to issue a revised registration certificate within four weeks.The DVLA is not responsible for the issue of a penalty charge notice. These are generally issued by local authorities or Transport for London in relation to parking offences or congestion charging, for example. The DVLA is responsible for issuing Late Licensing Penalty or Out of Court Settlements to the keeper of untaxed vehicles or Fixed Penalty Notices to the keeper of an uninsured vehicle. Any penalty issued by the DVLA will be sent to the keeper held on record at the time of the offence.

If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of providing increased powers to local councils to help them ensure that utility companies adhere to agreed timescales for completing emergency works on critical highway networks.

The Government continues to review how works are planned, managed and communicated and how this can be improved. The Government announced in December that we will be clamping down on disruptive works by doubling fixed penalty notices for utility companies who fail to comply with rules and extending charges for works that overrun into weekends.

If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of amending sections 1 to 3A of the Road Traffic Act 1988 to extend dangerous driving offences to include incidents causing the (a) death and (b) serious injury of (i) dogs, (ii) other domestic pets and (iii) other animals.

The Government has no plans to consider amending the Road Traffic Act 1988 in the way suggested.

If she will take steps to launch a public awareness campaign to promote pedestrian and cyclist visibility on roads by encouraging the use of light or reflective clothing.

THINK!, the Government’s flagship road safety campaign, aims to reduce those killed and seriously injured on the roads in England and Wales by driving awareness of key road safety issues and encouraging attitude and behaviour change among high-risk road users. We encourage the use of bright or reflective clothing for pedestrians and cyclists through our THINK! social channels, including at key moments such as around school term times, when the clocks change and darker mornings and evenings in the winter. This advice is also shared via THINK! education resources, which are used widely by schools and other teaching intermediaries to support road safety education for children, and the THINK! campaign works closely with road safety charities and partners to share road safety advice and resources. The primary audience for THINK! paid campaign activity is young men aged 17-24, who are four times more likely to be killed or seriously injured on the road than drivers aged 25 and over. To maximise the impact of our paid campaigns, these focus on the road safety issues which contribute to the highest numbers of deaths and serious injuries on our roads, such as speeding and drink driving.